Autonomous Charging

Moomin

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Didn't see it on any threads but this looks quite interesting. At $3k-$4k it's not unreachable since I just had the Charge Point installed at $650 plus $700 for the unit. With Ford raising prices, what's another $1500 at this point.

https://www.pluglesspower.com/learn-about-plugless-2/
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Maquis

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I can’t find the charging rate anywhere on the website. I’m guessing it’s not very high.
 
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Moomin

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RickMachE

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Didn't see it on any threads but this looks quite interesting. At $3k-$4k it's not unreachable since I just had the Charge Point installed at $650 plus $700 for the unit. With Ford raising prices, what's another $1500 at this point.

https://www.pluglesspower.com/learn-about-plugless-2/
You're missing something here.

To use inductive charging requires that the charger be connected to electricity. Therefore, the $650 you spent on getting electricity to your charger would still be incurred.

So, if you're comparing costs, it's $700 vs. $2,150.

The amount of electricity lost between the house circuit and the vehicle would be interesting, as would be the reaction to sitting in water or having slush dripping down on it.

Michigan is conducting an inductive roadway test. https://www.electrive.com/2021/09/23/michigan-joins-the-race-for-inductive-charging-road/
 

Murse-In-Airy

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Inductive charging is inherently inefficient and generates lots of waste heat. It can use 50% more electricity than plugging in. Plugging in is already roughly only 85% efficient.
Charging An 88 kwh battery by plugging in can use 101 kwh of electricity.Using inductive would use around 150 kwh to deliver 88 kwh to the battery. so not only do you need to buy the charger and have the receiving contact pad installed on the bottom of your car. It has to be wired to your charging system in the car. Then you’ll be paying for 50% more electricity every time you charge.
Convenience always has a price but this is a bridge too far for me.
 
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Neil4Real

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On top of what others have said with it being much more inefficient, I’d prefer plugging in a cord than having a huge mat on the floor of my garage with a cord running to it. If this was similar to phone wireless chargers where you can hole saw into a dresser and have a wireless pad flush with the dresser, that would be interesting. Cut out my the garage floor for the mat to fit flush, that’d be cool, wouldn’t hinder garage use when I pull my car out and need it for a project or party.
 

Maquis

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dml105

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Considering the inherent inefficiencies, I really don’t understand the drive to be wireless. If I have to drive over a mat, how about a pantograph that comes up from the floor, physically connecting with receiving terminals in the car?
 

KevinS

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I don't know if I'd want to drop anything metal on the pad on the garage floor.

If you'd seen my garage, you'd share my personal concern about this.
 

ripperAZ

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Yeah…..
I think I’m gonna give this idea about a decade to mature.
I haven’t used the wireless chargers for phones in any of my cars simply because I use a battery case that prevents them from working but the battery give me all the juice I need for the whole day. Any of the cases that you need to put on your phone to have inductive charging works are so flimsy you’ll end up destroying your phone which I’ve never done a nice solid battery case protects it and give you all the juice so you can have your inductive charging for cars for a while as well.

We have no idea that in a few years there might be some kind of new liquid battery technology that won’t work with it and then you’ll just have a $5000 floormat in your garage for no freaking reason

I wish them luck but I'm also not going to let blue cruise change lanes for me or read speed limit signs either

Just saying we're not the Jetsons quite yet
 

bshaw

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I don’t find plugging the cord in manually to be much of a hassle. Certainly not enough to justify the reduced efficiency mentioned above.

If I were going to get an automated charge system, something like a robotic arm that cones out from the wall of the garage and connects a standard J-1772 would be my choice. All the car would have to do is open its charge port door automatically.
 

mkhuffman

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Agree with the previous posts about efficiency and need. I think this technology would be great for public parking spaces like at a restaurant - you pull into the space and your car is charged while you eat. That is more convenient than plugging in. But if the cost of the charge is much higher than typical because of the inefficiencies, I wouldn't do it.

If the businesses who want us to use their stores paid for it, now that would be awesome. There would need to be a lot of parking spaces with the capability though, and I think business owners would have a hard time justifying the investment compared with the lower cost of putting in corded stations.

If they can get the cost down so it is comparable with corded charging they might find a market.
 

P. T. Magoo

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If I were going to get an automated charge system, something like a robotic arm that cones out from the wall of the garage and connects a standard J-1772 would be my choice. All the car would have to do is open its charge port door automatically.
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